Deuterium fusion in Glow Discharge

A Deuterium Glow Discharge with a ZrD₂ Cathode on the Wall for Checking the Putative Fusion D + D à ⁴He + Heat

Kjeld C. Engvild, DTU Environment, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

A fusion reaction of D + D à ⁴He + heat has been proposed repeatedly in LENR experiments where helium is typically found in high amounts, tritium in low amounts, and only few neutrons; the heat evolution corresponds to the amount of helium, observed in both electrolysis and glow discharge experiments. The D + D à ⁴He + Q reaction is not recognized in physics, as there is no obvious mechanism for converting MeV energy directly into heat. A deuterium glow discharge “lamp” with a cathode consisting of a deuterated zirconium foil fitted snugly to the tube wall and an anode in the center might be used to investigate putative excess heat by classical water calorimetry. The lamp should be operated at as low pressure and current as feasible, with proper precautions against X- and gamma-rays.

In 2015 Dalkarov et al. published experiments on low energy hydrogen isotope bombardment of titanium and titanium deuteride water cooled targets at 10-50 keV and a few watts. At deuteron bombardment on titanium deuteride at one watt the temperature rose about 80 degrees C; when bombarding titanium with protons, the temperature rose only about 20 degrees. Have Dalkarov et al observed fusion reactions at four times above break-even? They themselves asked the question: do we have a D + D à ⁴He + Q reaction? Such a reaction is not recognized in physics, as there is no obvious mechanism for converting MeV energy directly into heat. However, there have been numerous results in LENR literature that heat evolution corresponds to ⁴He production, while the production of tritium is quite low and there are only very few neutrons (review Storms, 2012). This has been observed in many electrolysis experiments, but also in glow discharge experiments (Karabut et al. 1992).

Perhaps the Daskalov experiment could be replicated in a simple manner in a special low pressure glow discharge “lamp” with a large area cathode in close contact with the tube wall.

A tube filled with deuterium, a center tungsten anode, a cathode connected to a foil of zirconium, electrolytically loaded with deuterium to almost ZrD₂ is fitted snugly to the wall. The “lamp” should be run at as low pressure and current as feasible to obtain as long free deuteron path as possible. Proper precautions against X- and gamma rays should be taken. Heat evolution is measured by simple water calorimetry in a Dewar.

A claim of D + D à ⁴He + heat is dismissed by the physics community, as there is no obvious mechanism for converting MeV energy into heat. A possibility might be a three-body reaction (Takahashi et al. 1999, Kasagi et al. 1995, 2002, Engvild 1998) between three deuterons that interact with the metal lattice. An incoming deuteron interacts with two D’s and form an extended Efimov assembly of three D’s (Ferlaino and Grimm 2010, Naidon and Endo 2017). The assembly knocks on the atoms in the lattice, and it is sometimes elevated to the next Efimov state at higher energy, but with a size of only 1/22 of the former state (Ferlaino and Grimm 2010). Three D’s so close together would fuse almost instantaneously, most often:

D + D + D à (^D_D^D) à ⁴He + D,

but also, rarely à (^D_D^D) à  ³He + T.

Neutrons would only be formed in secondary reactions with accelerated tritons and deuterons.

References

Dalkarov OD, Negodaev MA, Rusetskii AS. 2015. Investigation of heat release in the targets during irradiation by ion beams. Lebedev Institute, arXiv preprint, arXiv.

Engvild KC. 1998. Nuclear reaction by three-body recombination between deuterons and the nuclei of lattice trapped D₂ molecules. Fus. Technol. 34, 253-255.

Ferlaino, F, Grimm, R. 2010. Forty years of Efimov physics: How a bizarre prediction turned into a hot topic. Physics 3, 9.

Karabut AB, Kucherov YaR, Savvatimova IB. 1992. Nuclear product ratio for glow discharge in deuterium. Phys Lett A 170, 265-292.

Kasagi J, Ohtsuki T, Ishii K, Hiraga M, 1995. Energetic protons and α particles emitted in 150-keV deuteron bombardment on deuterated Ti. J. Phys Soc. Japan 64, 777-783.

Kasagi J, Yuki H, Baba T, Noda T, Ohtsuki T, Lipson AG, 2002. Strongly enhanced DD fusion in metals observed for keV D⁺ bombardment. J. Phys. Soc. Japan 71, 2881-2885.

Naidon P. Endo S. 2017. Efimov physics: a review. Rep. Prog. Phys. 85, 056001.

Storms E. 2012. A student’s guide to cold fusion. https://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/StormsEastudentsg.pdf.

Takahashi AK, Maruta K, Ochiai K, Miyamaru H. 1999. Detection of three-body deuteron fusion in titanium deuteride under the stimulation by a deuteron beam. Phys. Lett. A 255, 89-97.

I have been folllowing the LENR field since the very beginning and I remember fondly the great excitement and the bubbling of new ideas. I did a few experiments on a chain reaction hypothesis: ⁶Li + n --> ⁴He + T, T + D --> ⁴He + n. I did not see anhything. I have done a few other experiments later, also without seeing anything.

I have been retired for many years, and my department has been closed, so I don't have access to a laboratory.

Quote from Curbina

What can I say Engvild , LENR unfortunately doesn’t lend itself to be interpreted through the classical nuclear science rationale, so applying that rationale to the design of experiments often fails. As was seen in the case of Fralick in 1989, they did the experiments expecting to see neutrons, and “only” obtained anomalous heat, so they dismissed the results. It took decades for them to realize the anomalous heat was indeed possibly related to nuclear effects.

I agree, but also disagree. When you have unusual experimental results, you have to verify that they are real. Then you have to find an explanation, maybe even a new theory. But in the end it is better when the new "theory" can be fitted into the conventional physics universe.